Cardinals can become third 11-5 team to miss playoffs

Of the 10 NFL teams that have double-digit wins this season, eight have already clinched playoff berths and a ninth will make the playoffs with a win on Sunday. And then there are the Cardinals.

Arizona is 10-5 but will probably miss the playoffs even if it improves to 11-5 with a win over San Francisco on Sunday. (The Cardinals need to win to make the playoffs and also need the Saints to lose to the Buccaneers.) If the Cardinals do miss the playoffs at 11-5, they will be just the third team in NFL history to do so.

As noted by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the only previous 11-5 teams to miss the playoffs were the 1985 Broncos and the 2008 Patriots. (Three 11-win teams missed the playoffs in the old days, before the 16-game season and the expanded playoffs. The 1967 Baltimore Colts missed the playoffs at 11-1-2, the 1963 Green Bay Packers missed the playoffs at 11-2-1 and the 1962 Detroit Lions missed the playoffs at 11-3.)

The Cardinals have a lot to be proud of this season, but they had the bad luck to be playing in the NFC West, which has proven this season to be one of the toughest divisions in NFL history. The Seahawks and 49ers are two of the best teams in the NFL, and even the last-place Rams could contend for first place in some divisions. (The Rams beat the Cardinals in Week One and later had wins over the Colts, Bears and Saints.)

The good news for Cardinals fans? Both of the previous 11-5 teams that missed the playoffs won their divisions the next year.

51 responses to “Cardinals can become third 11-5 team to miss playoffs”

I thought Peter King had some good initial ideas when he brought up his concerns on The Dan Patrick Show, but he didn’t seem concerned about the bigger issue such as the Cardinals missing out completely. The home-field award issue is secondary to this huge problem.

If the 4 divisions in each conference were condensed to two, then the Cards wouldn’t miss out with 11 wins to potentially GB with 8.5. That’s just not cool.

That’s right, the Patriots only missed the playoffs in 2008, the year Brady was injured in game one, an 11-5 year due to a tiebreaker. I don’t recall anyone feeling sorry for the Pats that year. Brady has won his division 11 times, a record that likely will only be broken by him. Belichick is one of the top coaches in sports history.

In or out the playoffs , Good season . Please retain all the defense players and coaching staff. Please win 12 games next season. The 2015 SB will be held st UOP Stadium in AZ, PLEASE win 12 games next season and fight for a home field advantage Super Bowlbin 2015! PLEASE!
That would be absolutely insane!!!! AZ would go nuts!

6 best teams in each conference period. Who cares if a certain division is not represented in the playoffs? If you want to represent your division than win enough games to be one of the 6 best in the conference! Otherwise, sit at home and watch the playoffs like the rest of us.

Lame as hell but unfortunately acceptable. The Cards got in and made a Super Bowl run with a worse record! I’m still incredibly proud to be a Cards fan since day 1in the desert and excited for what the future of AZ football will be for years to come. On the flip side, if the Saints crap the bed and the Cards handle the 9 er’s, opposing teams should be nervous as hell!! GO CARDS!! GO BUCS!!

Good. Maybe now they’ll learn that each regular season game is important instead of coasting along for the first half of the season. Conference seeding is a spectacularly awful idea, this is the NFL where literally every game counts (remember when the Seahawks hardly beat a “lowly” Panthers team in week 1?), not the damn NBA.

If the Seahawks are getting blown out against the Rams and the Saints are getting blow out against the Bucs at half time, the second half of the Niners Cards game is going to be brutal. If the blow out is going the other way the second half will be boring. So for the sake of the fans The Bucs and Rams should play their hearts out.

I think they award the division winner with too much. Award them with only a guaranteed playoff berth not a home game unless they have a better record than either of the two Wild Card teams. There are ways to figure it out to make it fair, Goodell is just a stubborn dude.

Believe me, I feel Cardinals fans pain. We had to go on the road after finishing 11-5 in 2010 to play a team we had 4 more wins than. That’s why I really think the NFL should add another wild card team and eliminate the bye week for the 2nd seed.

The Cardinals deserve to be in the Playoffs 100%, no if’s and’s or but’s about it. The league will be missing out on some good playoff material with their absence. I would like to see a head to head Defensive controlling game between the Cards and the Seahawks, where the 2 defense’s put up more points than the Offense’s do.

They need to keep the divisions the same for traveling & scheduling purposes BUT when it comes to the postseason your record should determine your seeding 1-6 regardless if you win your division or not! Majority of the time there will be a division winner in all 4 divisions in each conference but when there is a 11 win team at home that is unacceptable.

So the Cards fans are disgruntled and whining because their beloved team may not make the playoffs?

This is your classic loser mentality: come up short and look for every which way to become eligible for unearned rewards.
Change the rules they say. Division winners should not be guaranteed a playoff spot they claim. We are the Cardinals, they insist, and no matter what our record us, you must change everything around to make sure that we get into the playoffs.

I thing we should accommodate them. Why not? Common guys, let us do this. Let us give them a spot. In fact, can we just slot them into the Super Bowl?

As noted, the current system has been in place for 50 years. When you have divisions, there is always the possibility that a team with a better record misses the playoffs, and it’s happened going back to the 1960’s.

However, if you dismantle the divisional playoff system then you might as well just eliminate divisions. They would have zero meaning. Just have two conferences. But you know what would happen then? There will be a team from one of the conferences with a better record than a team in the other that made the playoffs but the team with the better record stays home.

Or, just eliminate conferences too. Play a willy nilly regular season and the top 12 or 14 teams go to the playoffs. But then, the NFL loses the one thing that separates it from all other sports. THE REGULAR SEASON MATTERS! It’s the only pro sport where that is true.

The real issue for the Cards is the tiebreaker system is broken. Most will think that head 2 head should be the 1st tiebreaker, but that’s only fair in divisions (since they play twice home and home).

Does anybody (but the Saints homers) think the Saints beat the Cards if the game is in Arizona? NO got that home game because of a flip of a coin. If you are going to decide playoff spots that way, you might as well just flip a coin.

Not hearing much whining out of AZ. Fans are proud of this team and know that not making the playoffs is probable. Still doesn’t change the fact that most of your teams would fear a traveling Carss teaming they did make it in.

Every year where a bad (8/9 win) division winner has a worse record than a w/c contender .. Get over yourselves People, you all always complain about the system.. It is what it is.. It works both ways.. Sucks for ARZ now but you gotta win the games in division and in conference because of the tiebreaker rules.. If you don’t, you’re at the mercy of your competitors.. Plenty of crap teams sneak in and make the playoffs worthwhile (2011 broncos, and Seahawks, 2008 cards, etc) and plenty of supposed good teams go one and done .. (2011 saints, 2000s colts, 2003 chiefs, etc) so it’s all about health, momentum and matchups in postseason..

Hey remember that game the Cards lost to the Eagles thanks to the poor officiating well maybe karma will happen … Cowboys beat the Eagles and the Bucs beat the Saints while the Cards win. This way the refs are off the hook.